


The Swiss Castle and The Party For Salvationists

by Erika_I_Prescott



Category: Mission: Impossible (Movies)
Genre: Dark, F/F, F/M, Foreshadowing, Ilsa is very straight, Its Harsh, Sorry Not Sorry, Violent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-06
Updated: 2019-08-06
Packaged: 2020-08-10 10:07:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20133691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Erika_I_Prescott/pseuds/Erika_I_Prescott
Summary: Get in, get the code, grab the file, get out and go home. The team (Ethan, Ils, Benj, Will, and Luther) goes to Switzerland for a file and Ilsa has to seduce the target.





	The Swiss Castle and The Party For Salvationists

It was a simple mission. Get in, grab the file, get out. No one had to even know they were there. At least it should have been like that. That's what Ethan thought.

He sat in the debriefing room in a cold black office chair at the end of the table focusing all his attention on a white mug with a CIA logo on it. The grey and brown room around him drowned out. Just the cup was in view. His other teammates sat across the table from him and next to him. They also weren’t entirely there, but not as checked out as their team leader.

Behind Ethan, a large wooden door opened and closed as the secretary walked in and to the front of the room. He set down a slim black leather briefcase with a CIA logo imprinted on it. He then opened up the case and pulled out some files then set them down on the glass table and opened up the file on the top. He then went back into the case and pushed a small red button on the inside of the case. Glancing up at the team, he took a seat in a plush chair at the head of the table. 

“Good Morning, team Bravo,” he said relatively quietly. Ethan looked up.

His hair was going every which way, dark circles under his eyes completed the look that he hadn’t slept or eaten in days, which was partly true. The only thing about Ethan that looked professional was the suit that seemed to be holding him together.

Benji, William, and Luther all greeted the Secretary with half-hearted grunts and one hello. They all sat quietly in their seats, doing their best to pay attention to their boss.

“Mr. Secretary? Why are you doing this? This isn’t your job, you don’t Procter debriefings,” He half-heartedly wondering why the leader of a whole government agency came to do a pretty simple and mundane task.

“Because this was a hard mission.” he leaned forward in his seat and held Ethan’s tired gaze. 

“And I want to make sure you guys are doing alright.”

Ethan sniffed and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. 

***

“Alright everyone this should be a simple in and out,” Ethan said quietly into his microphone as he pulled up to the front of the castle and stepped out of a matt red Koenigsegg Agera.

Two valet men in dark suits step up to the car and open the doors. Ilsa stepped out in a purple silk dress with a long slit up the side and a belt made with real sapphires. She thought it was too extravagant for her taste, but she knew Ethan had been positively giddy about the exotic car they borrowed from the IMF branch in Geneva, Switzerland. She was happy she could wear an open dress. It was the dead middle of summer and she was thanking the IMF disguise department that she at least had dressed to wear that fit the 77-degree night while her stupid boyfriend wore a hot three-piece suit, which, she had to admit he looked dashing in.

“Wellkommen im Schloss Chillon, mein Schatz,” the valet winked at Ilsa as his hand slid down her back and came dangerously close to both her ass and the gun she was hiding under corset Ethan suggested she wore. Ilsa grabbed his wrist and glared at him. He backed off as soon as he saw Ethan’s look and felt her tight grip.

“Fass sie nicht an, Junge,” Ethan growled as he gave the keys to the valet driver on his side and made his way to the pathetic kid.

“Es tut mir leid, Herr!” he apologized as fast as he could backing away from Ilsa.

Ethan glared at him one more time for good measure before he took Ilsa’s hand and made their way into the castle. Ilsa adjusted the ring on her left finger as he watched the two of them walk away. The driver rolled his eyes, scoffed and mouth what Ilsa could only read as  _ Es ist mir egal, Lebling. Ich werde dich später finden.  _ It was Ilsa’s turn to roll her eyes.

Two men in front of them opened the large doors to an extravagant castle full of gorgeous decor and about a million lights. 

“Okay, you know who we are looking for?” Benji said into Ilsa and Ethan’s earpieces.

“If we didn’t know by now, we’d be terrible agents, Benj,” Ilsa said quietly trying not to draw attention to herself or Ethan.

“Yes, well. She’s wearing a thin black dress with a gold dragon running up the left side. Right now, she is towards the back of the ballroom at the bar. She's wearing golden high heels and this time her hair is an auburn color,” Benji said as he sat in the computer control room with the door locked and two security guards knocked out and tied up in the corner by the door.

“Alright,” Ilsa nodded, nodding to her partner.

Ethan mouthed to her,  _ split up, go around and meet the target at the bar. You need to give us the code to the keypad and knock her out. If people talk to you, you can talk to them. We are trying to keep a low profile here, but the people here are high up in the criminal underworld and we don’t want them to make them our enemy. _

Ilsa nodded. 

_ Oh, and don’t let Stella take off your corset, you’re hiding too much under there. And give me your ring. _

Ilsa nodded again as she slipped off Ethan’s promise ring he gave her at the end of a mission about a year back.

_ I’ll have Will keep an eye on you two to see if nothing goes wrong. He’s there to help you. _

She nodded one last time.

_ Good luck, Ils. _

She kissed his cheek and turned to go, spotting Will in the corner of the room talking to a neatly dressed woman. He nodded to her as subtly as possible to her. He had gotten the message.

Ilsa sauntered over to the bar slowly, making casual conversation with the guests that came up to her. All of which were high up of the IMF watch list and all had killed hundreds of people in various horrendous ways.

As Ilsa made her way around, Ethan started his search for the armory room where Stella’s file most certainly was kept. In the team’s briefing, they did not have access to the layout of the castle, so they had sent Brandt ahead as a scout, but he hadn’t found any room or a place to hide a file. That forced them to their plan B. Send in Ilsa, the only women on their team, to seduce the owner of the file to tell her where she keeps it at her Party für die Heilsbringer as Stella called it. A party whereas she said, all of the European salvationists could relax in their riches and take a night off from their work and indulge in a lifestyle that suited only Europe's finest, roughly translated. Stella, the woman who had been hosting the party for years was an odd and evil woman. She had a particularly odd agenda. If she were to have a label, she would be the executive producer of European terrorist activities. She believed in a government-run through fear and she achieved that through funding European terrorist to do it. She was the richest person on the Eurasian continent. Her long-dead relatives had supercharged the opium trade into ancient China in the late 18 hundreds. They were what Switzerland called "old money rich.” That old money had been passed down and passed down to finally reach Stella's parents who had been assassinated by two MI6 agents two years ago. That left a 35-year-old German woman in charge of the largest drug trafficking operations in Europe and Africa and since her parents had started in the arms business, she also was in charge of an increasingly powerful arms dealing ring in the middle east that had only increased her fortune. She was, to say the bare minimum, a powerful woman.

It had been hard for the IMF to get them into the party, but after Ilsa called up some of her MI6 contacts, they got an invitation sent right to IMF's headquarters. That, in itself, scared the IMF. They had never received an invitation to a party like that to the exact address of the IMF USA headquarters. It had put the whole team on edge but the mission remained a simple one.

Ethan continued his search for any sign of a room Will had missed, so far, nothing had shown itself. The castle, although not very large, was a maze. One open courtyard where the event was held and corridor after corridor around the outside that overlooked Lac Leman. He was too focused on his task to enjoy the lake at night.

“Ethan, I think I found something,” Luther suddenly said into Hunt’s earpiece.

“Where?” He stopped. The hallway around him was surprisingly silent, something that put him on edge. 

“Heir Eklund,” a loud voice said from behind him.

Ethan whipped around to see two men, each over six foot and muscular looking. The one in front stared down Hunt as he walked towards him as his hand moved around towards his back.

“Ahh, Heir Holmberg, ich habe mich darauf gefreut, Sie kennenzulernen,” (I’ve been looking forward to meeting you). Ethan smiled with his hands behind his back reaching for his gun. The two of them closed the space between them slowly. 

“Und ich habe darauf gewartet, du dummer amerikanischer Agent,” (And I’ve been waiting for this, you stupid agent).

Ethan whipped out his gun and fired missing the first man’s hip by inches. Holmberg grabbed Hunt’s wrist and twisted it backward making Hunt drop his gun. The second man grabbed the shorter man’s jacket and kneed him in the diaphragm. Ethan doubled over onto the stone ground and at the same time pulled out a second handgun from a chest holder and shot Holmberg as he tried to pick Ethan up.

Holmberg hit the ground groaning in pain, clutching his chest where the bullet sunk farther and farther into him.

The second man backed up and hit the wall in fear of Ethan. His hands shot up in surrender, his breathing quickened.

Ethan stood up from his knee and walked over to the terrified man.

“Geh den Flur entlang,” (Walk down the hallway). Ethan said pointing back the way he came, 

“Da unten ist eine Wache. Rufen Sie Holmberg um Hilfe und ich lasse Sie im Austausch dafür leben, dass Sie nichts sagen.” (There's a guard down there. Call for help for Holmberg and I'll let you live in exchange for not saying anything). Ethan held his gun into the man’s abdomen. He just wanted to scare him, not harm him. The second man turned away from Ethan and started a run down the hall only to fall flat on his face about twenty yards away from Ethan.

“Benji, keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn’t tell anyone else,” Ethan said quietly picking up the gun he dropped and putting it back on his belt.

“Sure, Ethan,” Benji said passively as if he was focused on other things.

“Luther, where did you find something?” Ethan asked, straightening out his hair and his jacket.

“Out by the valet parking. I just saw someone go into a hidden door,” Luther said quietly.

Brandt chimed in, “Ethan that might be something, I never made it out to the valet parking,”

Hunt nodded and quickened his pace past Holmberg to where the cars are parked.

“Ethan, you should know Ilsa is close to Stella and Stella has been eye her,” Brandt said as he got a drink from the bar.

“Perfect,” Ethan smiled. 

Meanwhile, Ilsa made small talk with some of the world's most notorious terrorists all the while glancing here and there at Stella who had fully turned her attention to Ilsa.

Brandt saw this and made is way over to Ilsa’s admirer.

“She’s gorgeous, isn’t she?” Brandt smiled at her and looked back at Ilsa who was trying desperately to end a conversation with someone who, if Brandt could read lips in Russian, was trying to recruit her for an underground crime syndicate that trafficked illegal weapons.

Stella smile and gazed at Ilsa.

“She’s a dime as the Americans say,” Stella smiled as her eyes traveled up and down her body.

Will kept his eye on the move looking for Ethan to make sure he was okay.

“Sir,” Stella said, trying to get Will’s attention. Brandt turned back to her and smiled, masking a small thought in the back of his mind that she could kill Ilsa and him really easily if she wanted to.

“Yeah?”

“Do you know her name?” Stella asked turning to the bar and ordering two Double Ks which Brandt found surprising. He knew Ilsa wouldn’t like the drink, she had a very particular taste in alcohol. She preferred Irish and Scottish rye whiskey to fruity French cocktails.

“That's Vera Mattsson, the woman running the Lichtenstein arms syndicate,” Brandt explained as Ilsa’s conversation finally ended. She moved her way through a small crowd of people in the direction of Stella. Brant saw Ilsa wink at Stella. Brandt smiled and lowered his head.

“Go give her the drink,” Brandt encouraged.

Stella hopped off the stool with the drinks in her hand and made her way to Ilsa.

“Ms. Mattsson, It lovely to meet you,” Stella said strolling up to Ilsa handing her the pink french drink. Ils faced Stella and smiled as if she were enjoying it, which she comfortably wasn’t. In fact, Ilsa didn’t even like women.

“Ethan,” Brandt said getting up from the bar and walking away from Ilsa and Stella, “Your girlfriend met her woman.” Ilsa nodded to Brandt as he mouthed  _ good luck _ to her.

“Good, now keep an eye on them from a distance,” Ethan instructed into Will’s earpiece.

“Mmhmm,” Will murmured as he sauntered his away from the target.

Ilsa lost sight of him in the crowd and finally focused her attention back to Stella who was practically undressing Ilsa with her eyes.

“So, I’ve never had anyone from the Liechtenstein crime ring come to my party, why do you come this year?’ Stella asked before taking a sip of her drink. Ilsa swallowed.

“My parents had never received an invitation before, but we had known about this,” she looked around at the castle and gestured to all the guests, “for years but had never gone.”

“If I knew  _ you _ were involved in that family,” Stella let her hand slide down Ilsa’s arm, “I would have invited you long ago.” Stella, by now, was incredibly close to Ilsa. She was about two feet away from her. Ilsa could smell the darker perfume she was wearing, and it was a lot of it. Ilsa made a mental note to pour out all of her perfume when she got home. Ilsa couldn’t deny that Stella wasn’t pretty. She was toned, pale with freckles that dotted her cheeks and shoulders. Her auburn hair was tied up into a messy bun with a chopstick holding it all together. The dress she wore accentuated her curves and also, if Will was honest, her ass. The dragon on the dress stretched from the bottom of the right leg of the dress around to the left side of her torso. It was a chinses style dragon which had been her long-dead relatives had honored when they lived in China.

“I didn’t know you knew about us,” Ilsa said letting her hand find Stella’s waist. Stella welcomed the contact, but Ilsa hated it.

“Of course I know about you guys, you are the only crime syndicate in Europe that I don’t have some sort of stake in.” Stella’s hand wrapped around Ilsa’s waist.

“What about funding us?” Ilsa smiled, taking another drink of the stupidly sweet beverage.

“It could possibly work,” Stella said, pulling her arm away from Ilsa as a man in a suit came up to her and whispered something in her ear.

Ilsa read:  _ Doctor Holmberg of Sweden was shot dead in the southwest corridor on the third level. His younger associate is shaken up and isn’t talking.  _ He then switched languages into what Ilsa caught possibly Italian. She could not make out what the next few sentences were about and that worried her. 

Stella nodded with a stern face on and looked up at Ilsa, “Will you please excuse me for a moment? I have some business I must attend to.”

Ilsa had been put in a very tight position. She had to act fast.

“Oh, won’t you please show me around?” She winked. “I’ve never been to a castle before, and I’d love to set up a deal.” Ilsa’s heart started to speed up. She knew someone had just killed an associate of hers, but she didn’t know who. Or at least she couldn’t tell because she couldn’t read lips when people spoke Italian. Ilsa knew they were after their killer, but if she knew Stella they would keep it quiet and do their best not to disrupt the party. It was now or never to get this file. If Stella left now, she’d start the hunt for Ethan and stop at nothing to kill his team.

Stella turned on her heal with a smile and whispered something Ilsa couldn’t hear. But about five seconds later, she turned back to Ilsa and sighed.

“Let’s go for a walk, shall we?” Stella smiled and grabbed Ilsa’s hand.

***

Ethan stood against a wall in the parking garage. The spaces were full of exotic cars ranging in prices from hundreds of thousands to millions. Ethan made a mental note to thank the IMF coordinator who got him the car they arrived in. The garage was well lit, but not well staffed. Hunt was the only one down in what he assumed was a basement under the first level of the castle. It was cramped, but nothing a Chevy Suburban couldn’t maneuver.

Ethan made his way past a whole line of Lamborghinis in all colors to a harvest yellow stone wall that had a cut out of it just bigger than a regular door.

Ethan pushed on the left side of the incredibly subtle cut out in the wall, it popped open and yanked back a solid piece of concrete that was at least a foot thick to reveal a solid door made of stainless-bulletproof steel with a glowing green keypad, a retinal scanner that was about at Hunt’s forehead, also a green outlined handprint reader, and three separate combination locks all lined up next to the green keypad. 

“How?” he sighed to himself, looking at the maze of security measures. “Benji, who can open this retinal scanner and handprint.”

There was a pause on the other end.

“There is only one person who can open all of that,” Benji explained as he went through the security camera footage of the parking garage.

“How is Ilsa doing?” Ethan asked as he pushed the door stone door closed and made his way out of the garage.

“Stella is showing her around the castle. They are on the third floor near the northeast guard tower. Stella is trying to get physical with her, but Ilsa’s prolonging the walk,” Ethan nodded as he ducked behind a black and blue Bugatti Veyron as two armed guards walked down the middle of the parking garage. 

“Alright, if anything out of the ordinary goes on, tell me immediately,” Ethan instructed as he kept low and close to the wall making it out of the garage without making a scene.

***

Ilsa looked out over Lake Leman in a light evening breeze that wafted over the guard tower she stood in. The colorful lights across the water in Geneva reflected beautifully off the dark water. She took a breath and tried to ready herself for what was going to happen next. Stella watched with a grin of her lips that Ilsa really didn’t like.

“Vera,” Stella said quietly as she straddled Ilsa with her arms trapping her against the wall that ran all the way around the tower.

Ilsa turned around to face her target with a subtle smile. Stella softly brushed away a hair in Ilsa’s face and kept her hand on Ilsa’s cheek. She tipped her head to the right and gazed into Ilsa’s eyes.

“You are absolutely beautiful, Vera.” Ilsa swallowed and leaned in meeting Stella’s soft lips.

She tasted fine, but she hated it. Ils continued the kiss pretending that it was Ethan.

Stella’s arms wrapped around Ilsa’s midsection seemingly making the corset she was wearing even tighter than it already was. If she felt it right, Stella was carrying her to the stairs as she worked her way to Ilsa’s neck leaving a faint trail of pink lipstick right to a soft spot under her neck that drove her crazy every time Ethan kissed her there.

Right before the two made it to the stairs, Stella set her down and look deep into her eyes.

“Follow me, will you?”

Ilsa bit her lip and smiled.

As the two women walk hand in hand around the top of the castle, Ilsa’s inadvertently wandered back to a date in London that Ilsa went on with Ethan. She longed to go back to that night when she or her boyfriend’s life wasn’t in danger. She just wanted to go take a vacation with him that didn’t involve the IMF and this Swiss castle was exactly what she didn’t want. Especially the woman standing next to her with her hand on Ilsa’s ass.

Finally, they came to the end of the corridor to a beautiful oak door with a large silver dragon painted on it. It was the same dragon that was on her dress. Ils made a mental note to ask Benji the significance of the dragon.

“Ethan, she’s at Stella’s bedroom,” Benji reported quietly into Ilsa’s earpiece.

“Okay, Ils. Your corset, don’t let her take it off. You’re going in for a 6 digit code and to knock her out. Good luck, honey,” Ethan instructed in her ear as Stella lead her into her own suite.

The room was huge. The bed was in the center facing what Ilsa could only guess was an 85 inch TV. The bed itself was bigger than a king. Ils could only think how big Stella’s ego was staring at a room where the main color used for decoration was gold.

“Why did you bring me here?” Ilsa asks pulling Sella close to her and keeping her there.

A small gasp escaped from the redhead as he instinctively let her hands rest on Ils’s hips. 

“Honey…” Stella said gazing into Ilsa’s ocean blue eyes as she let her hand stroke the agent’s thigh that was exposed through the slit in her dress.

Ilsa bit her lip to try to keep from pulling her knife out now and stabbing her. By then, Stella’s hand was dangerously close to Ilsa’s ass.

Ilsa took a step back leaving the woman is a daze. 

“Two seconds,” Ilsa smiled and turned on her heel and made her way to the bathroom that was also filled with sloppy gold decor. Once in the bathroom, Ilsa slipped off half the dress. Next, she took the gun out from the back of her corset and set it down on the counter. She sighed in relief, it had made a gun-shaped mark on her back. Then, she unhooked the twenty-three hooks that kept it all together. She sighed again, letting her stomach relax and breathe.

Ilsa laid out the corset on the counter and pulled out a syringe and a knife in the inner lining of the fabric. She tucked both in the hair then grabbed the gun and corset and put them under the sink.

“Hey, beautiful, you coming?” Stella called from the bed.

“Two more seconds love!” Ilsa rolled her eyes but answered in a tone that led Stella on.

“Ethan, Benji, the corset’s off, I have the syringe and ready to inject, stay close and I’ll call for you if I need you,” Ilsa said pulling the dress back on and heading to the door with another dragon on it.

She pulled open the door and dropped her jaw staring at Stella laying on the bed without any clothes on just wearing black lingerie. Ilsa could admit, she was a good looking girl, toned, muscular, sharp features, someone she thought Brandt would date, but a surprise like this was not what she wanted. She walked over to the bed slowly eyeing Stella like she wanted her. She got back a similar look from the woman in the bed.

“God, you’re gorgeous,” Ilsa said just loud enough for her to hear. Stella sat up and grabbed Ilsa and pulled her into her. She pushed Ilsa into the bed and mounted her, letting her hands rest on Ilsa’s midsection.

“Christ. You’re a dime,” Stella smiled leaning into Ilsa kissing her with more force than Ilsa was ready for. Ils matched her intensity as the red-haired woman’s lips made their way down to Ilsa’s collar bone. Stella’s hands started to work to unzip Ilsa’s dress. Ils arched her back making it easy for Stella. Soon enough Ilsa laying on a large bed in just a lace bra and a black thong. Stella made her way down Ilsa’s torso leaving Ilsa moaning just to make her happy. 

Before she could really process what was going on, Stella was between her legs leaving a small trail of kisses just above Ilsa’s underwear.

Ilsa propped herself up on her elbows and looked down at Stella and ran her fingers through her hair.

“Darling, look at me,” She whispered to her. Stella raised an eyebrow and looked up from between Ilsa’s legs. “Not yet,” Ilsa smiled.

Stella made her way up Ilsa’s frame stopping just an inch away from her face.

“Ilsa,” Stella whispered staring her dead in the face with no emotion that she could read. 

Ilsa  _ panicked _ .

“Abort!” Ilsa yelled quickly only seconds before the red-haired woman reached behind her back to grab what Ilsa assumed was a knife.

“How’s your fiance?” She asked with a sick smile spreading across her lips. 

The lights suddenly shut off leaving Ilsa only a second to pull out the knife from her hair and swing it in Stella’s direction. Before Ilsa could make contact with Stella, she felt another longer knife sink deep into her abdomen.

The blade set a fire of pain throughout her body, she screamed in pain and dropped her own knife onto the pillow behind her.

All she could focus on was the searing pain from her stomach, she heard the desperate shouts from her teammates outside the door that was bolted shut that Benji couldn’t open. Hot, desperate tears streamed down her face as she tried to sit up, but all that did was adjust the two knives stuck in her lower torso. Ilsa realized that Stella still sat over her just waiting for her to die.

The lights flashed back on only to have Stella holding her down waiting for her to die. 

Blood started to seep from the wounds down onto the gold sheets.

Ilsa's jaw tightened, trying to bear the pain.

One.

Two.

Three.

Ilsa sat up as fast as she could and slammed her own head into Stella’s knocking her back onto the bed groaning in pain.

As much as Ilsa wanted to, if she took out the knives, she would bleed out faster so they stayed in as she made her way to the door.

She was halfway there when she started to taste iron in her mouth.

“Fuck,” she muttered as she fell to one knee. Every step she took her closer to the door moved the knives and just made the wounds worse. But, if Stella really had bolted the door shut, she had to try to open it because her only chance at rescue was Brandt trying to break the door down on the other side.

She couldn’t make it, blood was everywhere around her, she definitely had a concussion, the door wasn’t budging, and Stella was finally standing up. 

Ilsa looked over at her and collapsed on the floor in a puddle of her own blood.

“Christ, that hurt,” Stella said kneeling down over Ils who started to cough up an unnerving amount of blood.

Stella reached out to Ilsa's stomach only to push the knife further into her stomach.

Ilsa whimpered in pain.

“I hope you guys realized that an invitation right to IMF headquarters was incredibly suspicious,” Stella said quietly as she pulled the smaller knife out.

Ilsa gasped in relief as the blood poured out of her, it was the best thing she felt in the last five minutes.

Ilsa’s vision started to blur. The details in the room around her started to fade away and the only thing that was truly in focus was Stella. 

“Ilsa, honey, I’m somewhat sorry to do this to you but, not really. You guys are more annoying than a problem,” She smiled and brushed the hair out of her face. She stabbed a new wound into Ilsa with the smaller knife.

Ilsa tried to scream but was met with a mouth full of blood that made her choke.

Stella stood up and looked down at her work and smiled a sick, twisted smile. She made her way around the bed and pulled on a book on the shelf that activated a door in the wall that popped open. Stella took one more look at Ilsa.

She lay on the floor in a coughing fit as the energy quickly drained from her body. Each hole in her stomach spilled out blood faster with each passing second. She watched Ilsa pull out both knives and roll from her side onto her back.

Stella slipped through the door frame and pushed a small red button on the wall. She then made her way down the long and dark staircase that led to the room with the file in it.

Back in the bedroom, Ilsa heard the door unlock and someone run in.

“Ilsa,” Brandt said dropping his gun by his side in favor of pushing on two of the wounds in her stomach. He started to tear up watching the faintest smile crawl over Ilsa’s lips. “You’re going to make it, I promise,” he said quietly watching the rise and fall of her chest slow down. “Ethan, get in here now,” Brandt said to his comm as a tear escaped from his eye and ran down his cheek.

Will looked into Ilsa’s tired eyes, the white light made her ocean blue eyes sparkle for a fraction of a second. Will smiled at her as a cascade of tears ran down from his red, puffy eyes. Her face went pale, her eyes checked out and looked up at the ceiling blankly. Will took his right hand off her wound and checked for a pulse right under her jaw.

Nothing. Ilsa was dead.

Will sat back completely stunned just as Ethan appeared in the door frame.

“Brandt,” Ethan said softly as he knelt down next to her. Brandt looked over into Ethan’s eyes. It was the first time after nine years of working with Ethan that he had seen him cry.

Will backed off Ilsa’s body and stood up slowly.

Ethan sat against the wall and stretched out his legs. He pulled her partly against him and held her body close.

“Hey, honey,” he said quietly looking out across the bedroom at nothing in particular. He continued. “Please don’t leave me.” Hot, salty tears streamed down his face as he spoke. “We were going to start a real life together. I had a real ring for you. We were going to get married. We were going to move. We were going to have a kid and name him Isacc after your dad,” he trailed off as his tears only came harder. 

He saw a second life with her and without the IMF. He saw her walking down the aisle in a short dress because she didn’t want a long poofy dress. He saw her lying next to him on the beach in Portugal on their honeymoon. He saw her sitting in a white chair next to a lake with a kid playing in the water. He saw her at Isaac’s prom taking photos of him with his beautiful date. He saw her sitting next to him at Isaac’s graduation from both high school and med school. He saw her at Isaac’s wedding. He saw the two of them growing old together. He cried harder than he had ever had before. 

Ethan sat for a long time with Ilsa in his arms. Benji came and went and so did Luther. The three of them sat outside the bedroom. Benji sat in shock seeing as he watched the whole thing happen through the security cameras. Will sat crying silently to himself. And Luther sat utterly numb not thinking of anything besides Ilsa’s body.

After what seemed like a half an hour, Ethan laid her down and brushed the hair out of her face.

“Goodbye, Ilsa Faust. Thank you for everything. I love you so damn much. I know you know that” he whispered to her before giving her a small kiss on her forehead and standing up to leave.

***

The Secretary shut off his recording device and put it back into his briefcase. Ethan’s head fell into his hands.

“Ethan, I’m so sorry to make you repeat that, but thank you for doing it, everyone," the Secretary looked around at the team. They all sat in silence processing what happened. Ethan tried to compose himself and not cry.

“I’m going to put you guys leave until you all are ready to come back. But, right now, you all need to take care of yourselves right now. Remember to eat,” he looked at Ethan, " Remember to relax.” he looked at Benji, “Remember to think of the good times, and remember that this morning is temporary. It passes eventually, but for right now? It will hurt. So, Bravo, take it day by day and hour by hour. Seek help and support when you need it, and remember, I will help you if you need it.” he watched them all nod half-heartedly. A small tear ran down Ethan’s cheek.

Brandt fell back into his chair and looked at his team leader. His eyes were red and lacked sleep, he looked more disheveled than when he first came in. Will felt that he couldn’t help him. That he couldn’t take any of Ethan’s pain away. He was hurting too, but he knew that Ethan was worse off. That woman was a saint for him. She was perfect for him. The two had been seeing each other since Kashmir and the whole team was behind it. Ilsa had moved in with Ethan recently and she sold her apartment in London. A couple of nights before they left for Switzerland, just the men went out for a drink. That night, Ethan showed them all a gorgeous diamond ring that he planned to give to her after Switzerland. Will remembered the smile on his face when he brought out the ring. It was one of the happiest times he had ever seen Ethan. After saving the world so many times they all felt that Ethan deserved a happy ending and Ilsa was that ending. The team knew she was the endgame, and that if Ethan were to ever leave the IMF, it would be to settle down with Ilsa. It broke Will’s heart to watch his good friend in so much pain, but there wasn’t much he could do. So there Will sat not moving with his eyes fixed on his leader.

Next to him, Benji got up out of his chair and made his way past Ethan giving his shoulder a reassuring squeeze. The Secretary bid them farewell and held the door open for Benji as he slowly walked out. A minute later, Luther followed him out after saying something quietly to Ethan before he left. Brandt sat there for a little while longer in his own thoughts bouncing from Ilsa and Ethan. He just wanted to help. Hell, he wanted to help back in Croatia. But he was under the impression for months that he was responsible for Ethan’s wife’s death. It was eating him up inside that he could be to blame for what happened. If he had opened the door sooner, she would be here sitting next to Ethan with an engagement ring on her finger and Brandt couldn’t fall asleep knowing that.

“Ethan, I am so sorry.” he blurted out before he slipped too far down a terrible rabbit hole.

“I know. And William.” Ethan looked up from his cufflinks he was suddenly so infatuated with, “I know you think that this was your fault, but nothing could be further from the truth, okay?”

Will relaxed and let Ethan continue.

“The whole thing was a trap from the start, okay? Everyone there knew we were spies. The guy I killed greeted me by saying I was an American agent. Benji, who watched Ilsa die, said Stella called her Ilsa right before she-”

Brandt interjected, “Okay, Hunt. I’m not going to make you go down that road again,”

Ethan took a second before he continued, “And the invitation before we even  _ took off _ was sent directly to the IMF headquarters. That is a red fucking flag and somehow I fucking missed it!” Ethan slammed his fist on the glass table making a spiderweb crack in it.

“Before she-” Ethan tried again. 

“You don’t need to do that to yourself. Just stop. Please, I can’t watch you do that.” Will said standing up and walking over to him.

“Before she died,” He finished softly examining the crack in the table he made.

“Okay,” Brandt put his hand on his leader’s shoulder, “Go home and eat then shower, then go to sleep.”

Ethan nodded and pushed his chair away from the table with his legs.

Will went to the door and opened it.

Ethan stood up quickly but faced away from his teammate. He straightened his jacket and did his best to fix his hair before turning around and pushing in the chair.

“Home, eat, shower then sleep. You got that?”

Ethan half-heartedly saluted him in acknowledgment as he made his way out of the room with Will closing the door behind him with a satisfying click.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey. How are you doing? I'm sorry, but like, I'm not. I made this fic with the sole intention of killing her and I'll never be sorry about that. I'm glad you made it to the end. It really means a lot to me that you read these. But with that said, I like to cause my readers distress. I like to kill characters, but I am going to say, it was hard to hurt her. But anyway, I think my next fic might be a happy one. Or, should I kill Mr. William Alexander Brandt next?


End file.
